Peacebuilding &conflict transformation A ... - Peaceworkafrica

1. A brief introduction to nonviolenceViolence has enjoyed a long and productive career in the history of humankind andit seems that violence has played a much more predominant role in the evolution ofhumankind than nonviolence.We have armed our world beyond imagination; spend billions every year tomaintain an arsenal of death. Many people think that violence is the only means tochange repressive systems and believe that violence alone is able to deter aggressors.Many leaders continue to justify mass killings and oppressive economic injustice onthe assumption that violence is the only resort to resolve conflicts. Violence appearsto be the nature of things — it is what works. We learned to trust violence to grant uspeace — but in reality we secured for humankind a balance of terror.Nonviolence on the other hand has been around alongside violence, but wasnot popular as a means of protest until the early 19th century. The aims of nonviolenceare and have always been to counter injustice or oppression; to breach law andshow civil disobedience; to challenge unjust structures and systems; to adjust thecontrol or misuse of power and bring about progressive change; to establish HumanRights; stop genocide, extrajudicial killings, torture, forced displacement….Less well known is the role that nonviolence has played and continues to playin undermining the power of repressive political regimes in the developing worldand the former eastern bloc:“In 1989, thirteen nations comprising 1,695,000,000 people experiencednonviolent revolutions that succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest expectations…If we add all the countries touched by major nonviolent actions in our century(the Philippines, South Africa … the independence movement in India…)the figure reaches 3,337,400,000, a staggering 65% of humanity!All this in the teeth of the assertion, endlessly repeated, that nonviolencedoesn’t work in the ‘real’ world.” 1The sources for the following Chapter 2 — Historical roots — are taken from the variousbooks, articles and excerpts as noted in the footnote 2 .190 V I . N O N V I O L E N C E